DuckDuckGo's new email privacy service forwards tracker-free messages

DuckDuckGo is rolling out an email privacy feature that strips incoming messages of trackers that can help profile you for better profiling and ad targeting.

Users of the service get a free “@duck.com” email address that cleans messages of trackers and forwards them to your normal inbox.

Tracker-free emails from Duck.com address

Currently in private beta, DuckDuckGo’s Email Protection service aims at shielding you from hidden trackers that are often embedded in emails from various companies.

Trackers can let email senders know when you open their messages and help ad companies create a profile for you based on collected metadata such as the device you used to read the email when you opened the message, and your general location. This sort of information can also end up in the hands of third parties.

Email Protection works by using a “@duck.com” address that filters out the hidden trackers in your messages and then sends them to your normal inbox.

“This means if you use an email service like Gmail or Yahoo, it’s no problem! Emails sent to your Personal Duck Address will arrive there as usual so you can read your email like normal, in any app or on the web, worry-free” - DuckDuckGo

The service also makes available disposable inboxes to use on sites that could spam or share them with advertisers. Another benefit of this is that you can protect your real address from data breach incidents.

Furthermore, once the level of spam increases to unacceptable levels, there is the possibility to deactivate the email address and use another one.

Privacy oriented, almost nothing stored

In a blog post today, DuckDuckGo says that it will “will never save your emails for this service” and that the messages are never stored on its systems but processed in memory.

From the moment of receiving an email, the service removes the hidden trackers and sends it to the user’s provided address without even saving the accompanying headers, like those indicating the senders and recipients.

The final destination address that receives the email is the only piece of personal information that DuckDuckGo saves, for obvious reasons. However, if a user wants their account deleted, the address will also be removed from the systems within 30 days from the account deletion resolution.

Email Protection is currently in private beta as issues are still being solved. There is a waitlist to join the service but new applications are accepted daily.